Charting the

Emergence of a
Knowledge Economy
in Venice, Italy
LAURIE ZAPALAC
MIT
LZAPALAC@MIT.EDU
Population Change

SOURCE: The Venice Report, 2009

20th Century Challenges

Industrialization High Water Mass

Tourism
21st Century Responses

Sustainability MOSE System

Digital Technology?
How is work changing?

A knowledge economy recognizes:

• information as raw material
• knowledge as a tool
• the development or application of ideas as
the critical -- if not central - part of the labor
process.

The Age of Discontinuity (Drucker, 1969)

Why is the historic center attracting
knowledge workers?
• Characteristics?
• Strategy for regeneration?
• Opportunities and limits?

Methodology: Interviews and Case Studies to

develop a working hypothesis
(phase I)
Place Knowledge City Knowledge (Carrera, 2004)

Embedded Knowledge

Accrued Knowledge

Real Time Information

Feedback
Place Knowledge City Knowledge (Carrera, 2004)

Accrued Knowledge

Feedback

Embedded Knowledge
Real Time Information
What types of activities have emerged?
“Knowledge transferring”

Vento di Ski Stradivarius I Tre Mercanti

Venezia
Surplus cured Food & wine
Old boats wood products
+ + +
Boat building Boat building Trade / shipping
craft craft
Graphic design

Curated
Restored boats selection
Design school Custom snow skis for the new
global
What type of activities have emerged?
“Information-driven”

Bressanello Studio Camuffo Relaciones Forma Urbis

Art Studio

Visual Cultural information Tourism information City information

information
+ Commentary + Analytics + Analytics
+ Digital
editing Media design Media design Software design
Interior design

Publications, Consulting Resource managemen

Digital art media reports
Digital models
Installations Events Branding /
marketing
Where do they locate?

• Distributed
• Near major routes
• Convenient to transportation needs
Where do they locate?

• Knowledge transferring = more resource-specific

• Information-driven = more responsive to other
factors
Where do they locate?

• Limited competition with tourist

activities
• In small spaces (little inventory
requirement)
Where do they locate?

• On the ground floor (5/7) in former storage

spaces (4/7)
• High water not a significant deterrent
• Live-work proximity
How do they work? How do they use space?

• Tech savvy; concerned with visual output

• Office as design / production space, not client meeting space
• Adaptable
How do they work? How do they use space?

• Sophisticated use of public space

• Small-scale, dense, mixed-use and car free = asset
• Place value on sensory experience
When have these activities emerged?

• After the 1996 Master Plan

• In relationship to changes in digital technology
• As a by-product of 20th Century impacts on the city
When have these activities emerged?

• While population has been declining

• In absence of venture capital
• 1991-2001 census: “employment in professional activities
almost doubled”
Who do they involve?

• Venetians as well as other Italians

• Work experience outside the historic
center
• Small core: 1 - 3 key partners; but highly
Why locate in the historic center?

• Proximity to input resources

• Worker satisfaction and performance: identity / lifestyle /
social needs
• Branding value; proximity to point-of-sale is less relevant
Why locate in the historic center?

• Digital technology facilitates new ways of working.

• The boundaries between work and leisure are diminishing.
• The historic center fosters systems / network thinking.
Why is the historic center attracting knowledge
workers?
Locating in the historic center offers a competitive
advantage while meeting lifestyle objectives.

Knowledge workers place high value on:

• real-time information
• place knowledge
• feedback

They rely on the physical realm to:

• reinforces social relationships
• live and work conveniently
• inspire creative thinking
Hypothesis Testing
PROXIMITY COSTS
Input proximity Rental costs
Production Housing costs
Client proximity Planning
initiatives

AGGLOMERATI RESIDENTIAL
ON
Population
All firms
Amenity
Knowledge firms proximity
By sector / Housing
tourism proximity

CIRCULATION CONDITION
Pedestrian Building type /
age
Transportation
(out) Building
condition
Canal transport
(w/in) Acqua alta
Implications

We are on the cusp of a new understanding

of
the productive potential of historic cities and
a new capacity to realize direct economic
value from cultural heritage, especially place
knowledge.

Realize value is not just in individ

(Parallel local knowledge of indige

PRELIMINARY REPORT: September, 2010
www.lauriezapalac.com
Lzapalac@mit.eduMay 2010